Friends

It was a very strange trading session as some early gains in the Dow dissipated, while the big tech names that have led stocks higher for years continue to sell off. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon have all seen their shares plummet this year, yet the market averages are still near all-time highs. That is pretty impressive actually. On the economic front, today’s GDP print was better than expected as the economy grew by 2.1% in the second quarter which was better than the expectation of 1.6%. Today’s inflation readings were high but actually less so than expected and analysts believe that falling energy prices will alleviate most of the recent pressure that we have seen of inflation.

As for the market averages, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 71 points to finish the day at 51,920. The S&P 500 was down a fraction to close at 7,357. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 118 points to close at 25,358. Gold was up $40 to trade at $4,049 per ounce, while oil was up $1.77 to trade at $72.11 per barrel WTI.

I know the market averages have held up rather well, but I wonder how long that can last without any help from the major players? We still have a few trading days left in the quarter. Let’s first see how the week finishes out tomorrow.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Jim